This essay examines and establish a broader understanding, and the meanings of the Swedish expression hårdare tag (sort of harder grasp/clamp down), and its influence and impact on the rhetorical citizen. The phrase is commonly used in newspapers and within the discourse of crime and punishment. Since the phrase has ambiguous tendencies and a univocal political ideological implication – it can have an adverse influence on the rhetorical citizen. This essay implements an analysis of ideal types; and uses rhetoric and linguistic theories, the theories of terministic screen and the rhetorical citizenship, and the theory of agenda setting in order to achieve the purpose of the essay. The result of the examination shows that the expression has a strong connection to the political neoliberal ideology. Also, the expression can have an unfavorable affect on democracy and the phronesis of the rhetorical citizen.